Big Bash League: Perth Scorchers fall to last-ball six after unfair catch review controversy

Melbourne Renegades batsman Ollie Peake has hit a six off the final ball of the game to defeat Perth Scorchers, just overs after he was called back to the crease in a highly-controversial third umpire decision.

Peake was recalled after a review by the third umpire into a catch taken by Scorchers captain Ashton Turner, moments before the youngster helped the Renegades chase down Perth’s score of 127 with four wickets in hand at Optus Stadium on Wednesday night.

He needed four runs off the final ball and ramped Aaron Hardie for six over the fielder at fine leg to seal the dramatic victory.

Turner took the ball high above his head at mid-off, but the video umpire decided he had grounded the ball in his right hand while landing.

The on-field umpires spent minutes discussing the call even after the decision had been put on the stadium’s big screen, whipping a furious crowd into a frenzy.

Peake was on 16 off 17 balls at the time, during the Renegades’ power surge. They needed 37 runs off 22 balls. Peake finished the over by ramping Payne for a boundary and the Scorchers’ fielding innings descended into chaos.

He then survived a tight run-out chance with the final ball of the penultimate over and almost lobbed a return catch to Hardie with the first ball of the last.

The Renegades needed eight runs off the final over and were left needing four from two.

The angry Perth faithful jeered every Renegade run after the controversial incident.

The laws of the game state a catch is fair if: “the ball is held in the hand or hands of a fielder, even if the hand holding the ball is touching the ground”. But the umpire deemed Turner had used the ball to support his landing, with the laws also stating a fair catch finishes when the player has control over his own movement.

Turner conceded the decision was right under the letter of the laws, but said they were outside the spirit of a fair catch.

“It’s really frustrating because I think for everyone who is a cricket person, or watched cricket or played cricket in the backyard knows that’s a catch, that’s out, right,” he said.

“But that’s the letter of the law, that’s what the playing conditions state so the officials have made the right decision. We don’t dispute that, but it’s just one of those frustrating parts of the game.

“The rules and regulations are written by people sitting in offices, not people out throwing themselves around in the outfield, so sometimes I get it, it can be hard to have every scenario captured within the playing conditions.

“It’s frustrating because we were on the wrong end of it tonight, but that’s not the thing we are going to sit back and talk about in our team meeting.”

It scuppered what loomed as yet another remarkable Scorchers defence with the ball. The Renegades went 48 balls without striking a boundary during the middle of their innings as Perth put the clamps on to protect their low total.

A win would have put the Scorchers on top of the table with three home-and-away matches remaining.

But it did continue a worrying trend of low scores at their home ground. In their three full games at the venue, Perth has scored 150, 156 — in Sunday night’s win over Adelaide Strikers — and 126. They have a 2-2 record at home, including the rain-affected opener against Sydney Sixers.

They have passed 200 in all three away games so far this season and head to Adelaide for a return match with the Strikers on Sunday.

The Scorchers also have injury problems to contend with. Joel Paris did not finish the game with an apparent groin injury and Marsh battled with a sore finger.

On a tricky wicket with variable bounce, Scorchers legend Jason Behrendorff took 1-11 from three overs in his first match back after leaving Perth at the end of last season. Fellow veteran bowler Gurinder Sandhu took 4-28 and swept up the final three wickets in just four balls.

Hardie top-scored for Perth with 44 off 40 balls.

Openers Mitch Marsh and Finn Allen both battled to get set in a powerplay completely dominated by Behrendorff and Sandhu. Allen launched Sandhu for a straight six over the sight-screen and was out the very next ball, which struck high on his bat and ballooned to cover.

Marsh and Cooper Connolly crawled to 1-22 when restrictions lifted and in a bold play straight out of the Scorchers’ own handbook, captain Will Sutherland backed Behrendorff for a third over.

He took the key wicket of Connolly, who was bowled for three off eight balls trying to play the left-armer across the line targeting a vacant long-on.

Marsh launched two bombs — one straight off Sutherland and another into the padded seats of the second tier off green spinner Callum Stow — before he fell for 27 off 25, top edging a ball off crafty spinner Hassan Khan.

The United States spinner also had Perth skipper Ashton Turner holing out to long-on in an uncharacteristic dismissal for 12.

Perth scored an early power-surge in a desperate bid to kickstart their innings, but it after Hardie hit Sutherland for a six and Evans lucked out with a boundary while trying to duck a bouncer, the English import was caught behind off a slower-ball bouncer.

Hardie struck at less than 100 for his first 20 balls, which included a series of defensive shots in an effort to steady the innings.

It took the hosts 15 overs to reach 100 and just as they threatened to hit their straps soon after, No.7 Nick Hobson was run out by Ollie Peake attempting to scamper back for a second run. His dismissal for nine off 12 exposed a tail without the security of Ashton Agar at No.8.

Hardie struck a fourth boundary off Sandhu, but fell for 44 off 40 balls when he picked out a fielder at cow-corner. He departed with nine balls remaining.

Sandhu was on a hat-trick after Paris hit the next delivery down the throat of Behrendorff at long-on and while Payne survived that ball, he edged the next one to wicketkeeper Muhammad Rizwan. It left Sandhu with 4-28.

Returning star quick Richardson launched one six over long-on before he was run-out.

Heavy-hitting opener Josh Brown targeted Jhye Richardson early in the chase and hit him for a six over long-off and then another boundary before he skied a ball off Paris and was caught.

After a blazing start, New Zealand international Tim Seifert was run out in a mix-up with Rizwan and the ‘keeper fell victim to Connolly overs later.

Jake Fraser-McGurk was caught off Richardson when the Test bowler was brought on for a hit-and-run over in the middle of the innings.

The Scorchers wrestled their way into the ascendancy when Turner’s hot hand dismissed Khan. The skipper has taken 3-2 across two overs in the past two matches.

Peake struck back-to-back fours off Connolly’s final over to break their drought and soften the required run-rate before the catch controversy in the 17th over swung the momentum of the game again.